I know that there are authors who have been writing all their lives, with loads more knowledge than I have to share. I still have a lot to learn about the both the craft and the industry. But from my own experience, a few things stand out. Apart from the obvious things like getting the grammar and punctuation right, I believe you have to write the way you write. Advice such as “show don’t tell”, and “keep it short, sharp, modern, and easy to understand”, merely threw me right off, and had me trying to change what I’d already written to suit these things. This only resulted in stilted, silly sounding paragraphs, that I ended changing back to the way I originally wrote them anyway. There’s nothing wrong with long descriptive sentences. They can draw you in and make your heart clench. Likewise, short dramatic three word sentences can shock and grab your attention. I like a good mix of all these things when I read a book, and I think that it’s hugely insulting to modern readers to imply that they have both the attention span and intellect of a fruit fly. Stay true to yourself, and your own individual style.
Another thing I’ve come to believe is that you shouldn’t publish your labour of love, your first novel, first. Especially if you’re going the totally independent self publishing route. There’s a lot to learn, and you will make mistakes along the way. Personally, I love reading short stories. I buy lots of them for when I just have to read, and I don’t have the time to invest in a full length novel. I find that a beautifully crafted short story has just the same, and often more, impact as a lovely long book. Writing and publishing one or more short stories is a fantastic way to learn the processes of being an author in this new world of ours, and also a way of finding out what readers think of your work, before putting your novel out there.
If you are criticized don’t either shout or crumble. Some critics are really helpful and genuine, but some aren’t at all. Ask others more trusted, before you hit the delete button and mangle your manuscript.
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Deliberations to Share.